Factcheck.Org Coverage of Campaign Ads

A buddy of mine got to take me take a look at factcheck.org, a non-partisan, non-profit organization who's mission is to identify misstated facts in the media. As I started weeding through it, it seems like this is a really good way to measure whether McCain or Obama is running the campaign with more integrity. At the very least, I hope this post will help correct any misconceptions out there.

Below are the counts so far:

McCain

1. A McCain-Palin TV ad accuses Obama of being "disrespectful" of Palin, but it distorts quotes to make the case.


2. Those attacks on Palin that we debunked didn't come from Obama.


3. A McCain campaign ad claims Obama's "one accomplishment" was a bill to teach sex ed to kindergarten kids. Don't believe it.


4. He made some flubs in accepting the nomination.


5. A McCain ad comparing Palin to Obama isn't all above board.


6. A McCain ad wrongly claims Obama plans "painful tax increases" for working families. And who's talking about deficits?


7. McCain ad cherry-picks Obama remarks on Iran, twisting his meaning.


8. McCain misfires as he attacks Obama's home purchase.


9. McCain's new ad touts "renewable energy," but his energy plan offers little to support it.


10. McCain misrepresents Obama's tax proposals again. And again, and again.
    
11. Obama makes misleading claims about ethics legislation and abortion at a church-sponsored forum. McCain exaggerates his tax-cut proposals.

Obama

1. An Obama ad plays fast and loose with McCain's voting record on education and proposals as a presidential candidate.


2. An Obama ad running in Michigan claims McCain didn't support loan guarantees for the auto industry. In fact, he does support them.


3. He stuck to the facts, except when he stretched them.


4. Key facts are missing in an Obama ad linking McCain to Ralph Reed.


5. An Obama ad uses dated and out of context quotes to portray McCain as clueless on the economy.


6. Obama makes misleading claims about ethics legislation and abortion at a church-sponsored forum. McCain exaggerates his tax-cut proposals.


7. An AFL-CIO flier and Obama campaign ads say that McCain cost Ohioans 8,000 jobs. We say that's a distortion of the record.


8. The people in suits shown with McCain in an Obama ad are not lobbyists, as the narrator implies.


9. An Obama ad says McCain's campaign got $2 million from "Big Oil." The total is actually $1.3 million.